Firefighters in England rescued 18 piglets from a horrible fate, and if you looked at the feature image of this article, you can probably guess how the farmer thanked them.

And if you’re a vegan or an animal rights activist, you’re about to be horrified and should probably stop reading this article.

As BBC Newsreports, firefighters in the town of Pewsey, about 80 miles west of London, were called to a farm where several bales of hay (60 tons worth) had caught fire. In the midst of fighting the horrific fire, it became apparent to the firefighters that 18 piglets and two sows were in danger of being burned alive. The firefighters got the animals to safety.

To thank the firefighters, farm manager Rachel Rivers slaughtered the piglets, ground them up into sausages, and served them in a “thank you” barbecue.

“I’m sure vegetarians will hate this.”

The firefighters, presumably not vegetarians, described the meal as “fantastic.” A spokesman even made a joke about it.

“We can tell no porkies, the sausages were fantastic.”

In fact, the Pewsey Fire Station even put up pictures of the feast on their Facebook page — that is, until complaints forced them to take them down. In the absence of a picture of the event, the Inquisitr will show you a photo of the Pewsey Fire Station doing more mundane, fire fighter-y things.

As you can probably imagine, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had something to say about this. And it wasn’t good. Specifically, they pointed out that the piglets were no better off if they were saved from the fire, only to be slaughtered and ground into sausages.

“We’ll be sending Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service packs of vegan sausages so that they can see how easy it is to truly be heroes for pigs — by sparing them all suffering.”

The farm’s owner, Canon Gerald Osbourne, however, pointed out some relevant facts about raising animals for food.

For starters, she said, those piglets had a limited life span anyway; they would have been slaughtered within six months. The firefighters didn’t cause their deaths — they just hastened it a bit. For another thing, she says that the animals on her farm are treated well and live good lives.

“I gave those animals the best quality of life I could ever give until the time they go to slaughter and they go into the food chain.”

And she’s hardly cavalier about the realities of slaughtering animals. She admits that she does feel a bit sad every time she slaughters an animal.

“An inevitable part of farming is the death of an animal which gives us the food to eat.”

Do you think it was in poor taste (no pun intended) for the farmer to thank the firefighters who rescued her piglets by letting them eat them? Share your thoughts in the comments below.